'If we don't come together, have the conversation, draw a line in the sand and then move on, we are all screwed," says disgraced cyclist

In a photo finish between the Tour de France and Olympic sprint podiums, it would be a close call.

For
every Lance Armstrong in cycling, there is a Ben Johnson on the track. Both the Yellow Jersey and the blue riband 100 metres sprint have been infested with cheats down the years.

And sure enough, Armstrong has resurfaced to slam the "hypocrisy" of cycling and doping chiefs after a new wave of drug revelations surrounding Le Tour.

A French Senate report into the 1998 Tour de France has revealed 18 riders - including winner Marco Pantani and runner-up Jan Ullrich - all tested positive for
banned blood-booster EPO.

Armstrong was stripped of his seven Yellow
Jerseys earlier this year after admitting he was a cheat, but Pantani's
result will stand, while five-times champions Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain - who both failed doping tests in their careers - were invited to the 100th Tour's celebrations in Paris at the weekend.

Lance the Leper claimed doping did not begin or end with him, and the shamed Texan, reacting to the French Senate's dossier, told Cycling News: "It is what it is. It's popular now to make me the whipping boy - I get it, I
understand it, and I will live with it.

"After all, I brought it on myself. Does it reek of hypocrisy? Of course it does. But if we don't come together, have the conversation, draw a line in the sand and then move on, we are all screwed.

Reuters

Lance Armstrong was stripped of all seven of his Tour de France titles

"My initial reaction is that I'm not surprised. As I've said, it was an unfortunate era for all of us, and virtually all of us broke the rules - and lied about it."

One of the winners, as the French Senate reopened some of cycling's most stubborn wounds, was Tour de France champion Chris Froome. The British rider's triumph was absolved by the anti-doping commission.